South Cle Elum, WA population, income and ZIP codes

South Cle Elum town is a very small community in Washington, with 707 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #436 of 639 ranked by population — larger than 31% of them. The median age here is 34.6 years against 39.1 nationally, a slightly younger profile than the country as a whole. At this population the ACS sample is small, so the margin of error around every dollar figure below is wide — treat the numbers as a band, not a point, and expect them to move between annual releases without the place itself changing.

Households in South Cle Elum town earn a median of $60,268 a year, 23.3% below the national figure of $78,538 and 33% below the $90,592 median for the 393 Washington cities we cover. The median is the midpoint household, not an average, so a handful of very high earners cannot drag it upward the way they distort a mean. Poverty reaches 32% of residents here, well above the 12.4% national rate, which is the single clearest signal in this dataset that median income here is carried by a narrow band of households.

The typical owner-occupied home in South Cle Elum town is valued at $375,000, 23.6% above the national figure and 20% below the $468,400 peer median, while median gross rent runs $1,193 a month, 15.1% below the national figure, or roughly $14,316 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 23.8% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is within the standard affordability guideline. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 6.2×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so buying is out of reach on local earnings alone and the ownership market leans on outside income, equity or dual high earners. 62.4% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, so the market leans more heavily on renters. Rent is reported gross — contract rent plus tenant-paid utilities — which is why it runs above the advertised price on a listing for the same unit.

Home values sit at 6.2× median household income, far past the 3.9× national mark, so ownership costs here are set by something other than local wages — second homes, retirees with equity, or commuters earning elsewhere. With 707 residents, a handful of survey responses moves every median on this page. Compare South Cle Elum town against its county rather than against national figures.

No figure on this page is estimated by us; each one comes straight from the published ACS tables for this area. Small-area estimates still carry wider margins of error than state or national figures, so check the linked ACS tables before relying on them for lending, appraisal or legal work.